an apple core a day …. instructional program alignment? standardscurriculum instruction assessment

An Apple Core a Day …

Instructional Program Alignment?

Standards Curriculum

Instruction

Assessment

Aligning the Instructional Program

StandardsCurriculum Instruction

Assessment

Teaching the CoreMajor Components

Core ContentCurriculum DesignAssessmentDifferentiation

Why a Core Curriculum?

The core: Sets high expectations for ALL

students. Provides foundation skills for future

learning. Helps to avoid repetition. Identifies gaps. Provides equal access for students

throughout the state.

Why a Core Curriculum?

Action by the State Board of Education in January 1984 established a policy requiring the establishment of specific core curriculum standards.These standards must be completed by ALL K-12 students as a requisite for high school graduation.

The Core Curriculum

Describes the minimum to be taught Is not everything that may be taught Contains content not teaching strategies Is assessable through multiple measures Infuses Life Skills Infuses Character Education principles Signals Integration Is developmentally appropriate

How is the core developed?

All decisions for curriculum development are based on the student and are: age appropriate developmentally appropriate address individual needs accommodate community

characteristics

How is the core developed?

Select Core Steering CommitteeDevelop Intended Learning OutcomesReview ResearchPrepare to Write Core Curriculum

Receive input stakeholders Survey teachers Select a writing team Write first draft

Revise Receive input

Pilot Evaluate Pilot Hold Public Hearings Final Revision

Present to State Board for ApprovalImplement the Core

Revised Core vs Old Core

Revised Old Core Revised Old Core Revised Old CoreStandards 8 11 5 13 3 49Objectives 27 28 11 54 9 118Indicators 70 104 37 34 42 313Standards 8 11 5 13 3 52Objectives 28 30 13 54 9 126Indicators 87 115 43 67 39 372Standards 6 12 5 13 3 52Objectives 20 54 13 54 10 131Indicators 74 80 52 80 41 436

Language Arts Mathematics Content

K

1st

2nd

Revised Core vs Old Core

Revised Old Core Revised Old Core

Standards 6 11 5 13Objectives 18 36 14 54Indicators 66 178 60 92Standards 6 11 5 13Objectives 18 34 14 54Indicators 66 188 60 105Standards 6 12 5 13Objectives 18 36 15 68Indicators 66 2 70 128Standards 6 12 5 13Objectives 18 36 15 68Indicators 66 2 67 116

Language Arts Mathematics

Core Terminology

Standard A broad statement of what students

are expected to know and be able to do

Describes what a student can do after a broad unit of instruction

Describes something that is observable/operational (Students will…)

Core Terminology

Objective A more focused and specific description of

what students should know and be able to do at the completion of instruction

Describes what is taught Describes students in ways that are

observable and operational Serves as the focus for end-of-level and

end-of-course tests Assessable with multiple measures

Core Terminology

Indicator Observable and measurable description

of student actions Indicates that a student has mastered a

particular skill or body of knowledge Involves an active verb Includes specific content, various levels of

thinking skills, abstraction and complexity Serves as an example of how an objective

may be assessed Is assessable with multiple measures

Core ExampleScience Core – 6th Grade

Standard:Students will describe the characteristics and

movement of heat, light, and sound.

Objective:Describe the movement of heat.

Indicator:Compare the movement of heat in various situations.Identify how heat moves from the sun to Earth.Compare and contrast efficient and inefficient uses of heat energy.Experiment with various insulating materials.

Teaching the Core

The core must be purposefully taught. The focus of all instruction must be to ensure that students have enduring understanding of the core.


Core Content KnowledgeCurriculum DesignAssessmentDifferentiation

Curriculum DesignAKA Learning Experiences

Where should a good curriculum design begin? Textbooks? Favorite lessons or activities? Goals? Standards? Assessment of student skills? Tradition? Colleague pressure?

Curriculum DesignCore

Curriculum

Formal and Informal

Assessments

?

Curriculum Design

What should a good curriculum design do? Help make teaching decisions

How much time should be spent? Which concepts are more important?

Include valid assessment of learning Tests? Performance tasks?

Lead to effective learning activities

Understanding By Design

A curriculum model which affects---Teacher planningTeacher deliveryStudent learningStudent assessment

Understanding By Design

Learner

expectations & standards

Learning opportunities

Assessments

skill

s

dis

posi

tions

know

ledge

Backward Design Process

Stage 1: Identify Desired ResultsStage 2: Determine Acceptable

EvidenceStage 3: Plan Learning Experiences

and Instruction

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Enduring UnderstandingEssential QuestionsKnowledge and Skills

Understanding“…the capacity to apply facts, concepts and skills in new situations in appropriate ways"

Howard Gardner

Understanding

Without pressing the point too much, we urge teachers to think of students as juries think of the accused: innocent (of understanding) until proven guilty by a preponderance of evidence that is more than circumstantial. Grant Wiggins

Worth beingfamiliar with

Important toknow and do

"Enduring"understanding

Establishing Curricular Priorities

Enduring Understanding Filters

Fulfills state standards

Represents a "big idea" having

enduring value beyond the classroom

Resides at the heart of the discipline

Requires student uncoverage

Engages students

"Unpack" Content Standards

What "big ideas" are embedded within the state core standards?




and Instruction

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Performance tasksQuizzes, tests, promptsUnprompted evidenceSelf-assessment


Core ContentCurriculum Design AssessmentDifferentiation

A significant part of the continuing crisis in public education can be attributed to the difference between what educators say a student can do, as documented with report cards and diplomas, and what students can actually do, as observed at work and in the home.

-Dr. Douglas Reeves

Informal Assessment

Informal checks for Understanding

Observation/Dialogue

Quiz/Test

Academic prompt

Performance task/project

Student Achievement and Test Performance May be Improved by:

Teaching for understanding of core objectivesTeaching for attainment of basic and higher order skillsUsing instructional methods appropriate to curriculum goalMonitoring individual performanceProviding meaningful and timely feedbackMaintaining good class managementMaximizing academic learning timeSetting high expectations for ALL

Worth beingfamiliar with

Important toknow and do

"Enduring"understanding

Assessment Types

Traditional quizzes and tests Paper/pencil Selected response Constructed response

Performance tasks and projects Open-ended Complex Authentic

Think Like an Assessor Not an Activity Designer

Design assessments before you design lessons and activitiesBe clear about what evidence of learning you seek

Multiple Sources

Think "photo album" versus "snapshot“

Sound assessment requires multiple sources of evidence, collected over time.


Core ContentAssessmentCurriculum DesignDifferentiation




and Instruction

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

Sequence of learning experiences and instructionStudent engagement

Evidence shows that students can succeed with time, focus, multiple opportunities, personalized solutions, feedback, rigor, and CONSISTENTLY high expectations.

Learning Experiences

WHEREW= Help students know where the unit is going.H = Hook the students and hold their interest.E = Equip students, explore the issues, and experience the ideas.

R = Provide opportunities to rethink and revise.E = Allow students to exhibit their

understanding and evaluate their work.

Classroom Ramifications

ALL teachers should understand the expectations of the core curriculum. Staff development opportunities should

be made available for ALL teachers to learn about standards, objectives and recommended teaching practices.

ALL activities inside or outside the regular classroom should be focused on core objectives.

Classroom Ramifications

Teaching strategies should be designed to meet individual learning needs. Adaptations might include: Changing classroom environment Changing teaching style Changing instructional materials Changing level of complexity of content.

Differentiation

How can teachers be certain that all students reach the learning goal or attain the enduring understanding?

Differentiation

We’ve been shooting with water guns– a small stream of water down the middle of the class. We’ve got to figure out how to be oscillating sprinklers—and where to put the soak hoses from time to time.

Administrator, Midland Middle School

Why Differentiate?

Classrooms are becoming more and more inclusive and heterogeneous.Research shows that the teacher makes a big difference in student learning.New state testing laws and NCLB require attention to disaggregated scores.More assessment will highlight the differences.

Principles of Differentiation

Teachers begin where students areLearners differ in important waysStudents are engaged through different modalitiesTeachers Use varied rates of instruction Use varied degrees of complexity Hold all students to high standards

Principles of Differentiation

Use time flexiblyUse a range of instructional strategiesDiagnose and prescribe the best instructionUse powerful curriculumModify instruction to meet learner needsUse a variety of grouping structures

DifferentiationIf the starting points are dramatically different for children, and the finish line is the same, then equity is an empty slogan unless differentiated opportunities, supports, and resources are brought to bear on behalf of students and schools that face a longer or harder race. Lowering standards for some is a route leading to the “soft bigotry of low expectations” that President Bush has spoken about. But ignoring or dismissing the different distances or routes that students and schools must travel to achieve high standards is equally unjust.

--Scott Thompson

Our Most Precious Resource

Children are our most precious resource. In the end, they’re all we have. And if we as a nation cannot help the coming generation, if we cannot prepare ALL children for learning and for life, then just what will bring America together?

Ernest L. Boyer

The Teacher"I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.“ Haim Ginott

an apple core a day …. instructional program alignment? standardscurriculum instruction assessment

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